PGAW News

Office Notes

• The October Spud Line was mailed Fri. Oct. 22. If yours didn't come call (208) 555-0147.
• November Spud Line deadline is Fri. Nov. 12. Fax news to Linda Stucki at (208) 555-0148.
• 70 of the 96 booths for the Feb. 15-17 trade show are sold as of Oct. 27.
• Office closed Thanksgiving Day and Fri. Nov. 26.
• Janet Price is in Tue. and Thu. for questions on dues payments or booth bills.

October 2004

10/28/04 - Digging is about done for the year. The Basin was finished the first week of October and the Magic Valley and the Blackfoot and Aberdeen area by about the 15th. The rain the week of the 18th held up some fields around Rexburg and St. Anthony and there are still a few of those left to dig.

10/27/04 - We have had calls from several growers in the Upper Valley about pink rot and some pythium showing up in storage, mostly in potatoes that were dug wet the week of the 18th. If you have any of those in a cellar CHECK THEM NOW!! Keep plenty of air on them and dont wait to see if it gets better. Mark Ochoa will go over storage rots at the workshop in Moses Lake on Dec. 7.

10/25/04 - Prices are still poor. Idaho Burbank 70s were $7.00-8.00 this week f.o.b., 90s $6.50-7.50, Norkotah 70s $6.00-6.50 and Basin Norkotah 70s about $5.50-6.50. There is still no word on 2005 processing contracts. The whole price survey is on the Markets page.

September 2004

9/15/04 - Board meeting, Tue. Sept. 14, PGAW office, Blackfoot. All 12 directors were there except Paul Gonzales, who called in.

• Booths for the February trade show set at $375 for members and $450 non-members.
• Approved a storage workshop for Dec. 7 at Moses Lake. Mark Ochoa is setting it up.
• Rich Sorensen said the processor contract committee has met once on 2005 contracts and has nothing to report yet.
• Mexico, no change. U.S. fresh potatoes still can only go into the 26 km zone along the border.
• Jim Kalina told the board he will not run again for the District 4 seat in February.
• Next meeting Tue. Nov. 16, 9:00 a.m. at the office.

9/13/04 - Hard frost in the Upper Valley early Sunday morning, Sept. 12. Lows called in to the office:

Fields that were still green lost their tops, the trial strips at Kent's included. Most of the seed around Ashton was already killed, so it was mainly commercial Burbanks that got hit.

9/8/04 - Storage digging started in the Basin right after Labor Day. Mark Ochoa says the Burbanks around Othello and Moses Lake are digging a little light but the size is good.

August 2004

8/27/04 - Brett Nielson says some canals below American Falls will shut off about Sept. 15 this year, which is the fifth dry year in a row for southeast Idaho. There is talk of a call on the Snake next spring and curtailment of junior groundwater rights. Brett will report on it at the Nov. 16 board meeting.

8/20/04 - 41 people at the Rigby field day Thursday at Kent Jeppesen's. Rigby is the only site with Yukon Gold this year and the seed growers spent most of their time there. Kent dug hills of the Burbank check and GemStar side by side. Yields and gravities will go on the Trials page after digging.

8/6/04 - 86 signed in at Rich Sorensen's farm by Aberdeen for the second field day. It was over 95 by noon so we cut the walk short. The Alturas had the most vine and the biggest tubers in the hills Rich dug.

July 2004

7/28/04 - Hail Monday evening July 26 in southern Perkins County and the north edge of Chase County, Neb. Wayne Eckhoff, Grant, had hail up to quarter size for 15-20 minutes on 2 pivots of Atlantics, about 250 acres, and the vines are shredded down to stems on the north pivot. He was going to start digging for the chip plant around Aug. 10. The hail adjuster was out Tuesday afternoon. Nobody around Imperial has called in any damage.

7/23/04 - First field day of the year was Thursday at Tom Haugen's near Othello. 58 people signed in, about a third of them fieldmen and seed dealers. Tom and Mark Ochoa walked everybody down all 9 varieties. Shepody is only planted at Othello this year.

7/14/04 - At the July 13 board meeting the directors voted 8 to 2 to raise dues $25 in most categories starting in 2005. Dues have not gone up since 1999. Dale reported that shippers say fresh movement is off from last year and most of them blame the Atkins and South Beach diets. New dues are on the Membership page.

June 2004

6/14/04 - The Spud Classic was Friday June 11 at Pinecrest in Idaho Falls. 26 teams played and we made $6,400 for the scholarship fund.

Long drive was Troy Gneiting on #9 and closest to the pin on #4 was Darlene Moffat of Aberdeen at 6 ft 2 in. The office team of Dale Hokanson, Mark Ochoa, Janet Price and Linda Stucki came in 22nd.